Sonic the Hedgehog History From My Perspective

I really hate when writers try to depict an era they never lived through or experienced, or were too young to place in its proper context.

Take living through the 60s. Only one TV series ever convinced me they did their homework when making the show, and that was MAD MEN, which took place in New York City from 1960 through 1970. They got everything right. There wasn’t a song or a fashion included that wasn’t right for the particular year they were depicting. I grew up during that time and way too much was going on for me not to be aware. Being a kid then was also a lot different then being a kid now. There was no such thing as playdates. We simply told our parents we were going out and we’d be back for dinner or we’d call if we were going to be late. As long as we showed up by bedtime for school the next day, all was good.

Or breaking into the comics industry. One actually dealt with the editors at Marvel, DC, Archie or any other company located in New York City in person. Marvel Editor-In-Chief at the time Jim Shooter spent an hour showing me what it took to draw comics the Marvel way during a summer afternoon when I took a chance to visit the Marvel offices on Park Avenue. No way in hell that would happen now.

Back in the mid-1980s, I worked as a graphics designer/consultant for Booz, Allen & Hamilton when they had an office on Hanscom AFB, where I completed my 4-year hitch in the Air Force, and later when they relocated just off the base. As a result of losing the contract for our services, I and a number of other employees were laid off. It was then I decided to put my efforts into being a freelance artist full time.

I actually managed to land paying assignments at Marvel, DC, and a number of smaller publishers that haven’t existed since that era. But as I was married, paying a mortgage on a townhouse, and had a son, I had to make sure I had income coming in all the time no matter the source. Thus, I worked for a printer in the local area for over a year until they had a layoff, and worked as a freelance contractor in the graphics departments of companies such as Raytheon and Eikonix, which no longer exists.

While doing all of that, I even worked part time at a local retail chain called Lechmere at their Nashua, NH location. Specifically, I worked in the video department, where they rented and sold VHS cassettes of movies and TV series, and eventually video games after I started working there.

The most popular were the SUPER MARIO and LEGEND OF ZELDA titles as well as TETRIS and a few others. We had a hard time keeping the Nintendo console in stock especially at Christmastime, as everyone wanted it, especially for their kids. The NEC TurboGrafx-16 soon followed but was overshadowed with the arrival of the SEGA Genesis System, which had better games than the TurboGrafx-16 and better graphics than the regular Nintendo system at the time.

I relate all this because during this time, I was also illustrating stories for titles such as THE GREEN HORNET, RACER X, CAPTAIN ATOM, SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN and STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION, among many others. I had no idea at all when I bought a SEGA Genesis packaged with the first SONIC THE HEDGEHOG game for my son as a Christmas present in December of 1991 what lay in store for me.

Between December of 1991 and October of 1993, I illustrated issues 33 thru 35 of DC’s STAR TREK THE GENERATION comic, the first 2 issues of ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS for TSR Comics, the first 2 issues of ALIEN LANDSCAPES for Reoccurring Images publications, as well as submitted samples to DC editor at the time Michael Golden for a title DC was negotiating with Lucas Arts for the rights to publish: DEFENDERS OF DYNA-TRON CITY.

Sonic history might have been vastly different had DC acquired the rights to DYNA-TRON CITY, as I would’ve been committed to a 2-year 24-issue stint that would’ve paid better than anything Archie was offering at the time. But for various reasons the title went to Marvel, and I ended up doing some work for Valiant Comics on their LEGEND OF ZELDA licensed title instead.

It’s at this point I should now bring up what was happening with regards to SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, simply because I wasn’t there at the very beginning, but would soon begin what now seems more than 30 years later like a lifelong relationship.

During my legal battle with Archie Comics many years later, I learned about actual events I had been previously unaware of. Example: the person most responsible for bringing Sonic to Archie was David Silberkleit, the son of publisher Michael Silberkleit. Among David’s friends was the guy working for SOA to seek out licensing agreements for one of the hottest selling games during Christmas of 1991, SONIC THE HEDGEHOG. At that time, DiC was just starting development on the AoSTH & SatAM animated series when David brought Sonic to Archie’s attention.

SEGA supplied Archie with a number of Genesis consoles that came with the 1st game. Darryl Edelman was already working as an editor for Archie Comics when he was assigned the Sonic title to develop as a mini-series. Paul Castiglia submitted his take for the 1st issue which was rejected. That’s when writer Mike Gallagher and artist Scott Shaw! were brought in. Paul, Mike & Scott were the only creators who received consoles to familiarize themselves with the 1st game. The rest of the consoles sat in a storage closet in the Archie offices. (And no, I haven’t a clue what became of them.)

At this point, Mike began fashioning his early scripts using the game as a reference along with material supplied by DiC, essentially character model sheets from SatAM and story outlines from AoSTH. That’s why the early Sonic issues are very much a mix of both animated series. At this point, neither DiC or Archie were receiving any guidance from SOA. As for SOJ, they might as well have been on another planet.

If I recall correctly, I believe Mike Gallagher was also working on a couple of Sonic books for Scholastic Publishing. Artist Scott Shaw! would leave prior to the last issue of the Sonic mini-series for better opportunities elsewhere. He would be replaced by Artist Dave Manak. The 1st mini-series came out in 1992. The regular series would begin publishing in early 1993 with a May cover date, so that meant it was on newsstands and in comic shops as early as March 1993. Darryl would remain editor for the 1st 5 issues before leaving for other opportunities. His credit was stripped from issue 5 with Victor Gorelick & Paul Castiglia listed as co-editors in his place. The comic would be on its 7th issue by the time AoSTH began its syndicated run along with ABC-TV broadcasting episodes of SatAM. The 10th issue was already in production by that time.

SONIC 2 wasn’t released until November 1992, and if one checks the game’s history, it was the Japanese developers who came to America as it was the sales of SONIC and the Genesis here in America that caught everyone’s attention. As expected, there was friction between the Japanese and American teams, due most likely to Japanese resentment at having to cater more to the American market, which was then and still remains at this time the world’s strongest economy. Meanwhile, at Archie Comics, Victor dealt with the artists on SONIC while Paul dealt with writers Mike Gallagher and Angelo D’Cesare. It was late Sept / early Oct 1993 when he reached out to his friend, writer Mike Kanterovich, and asked him to submit some story plots for submission to the SONIC series.

Mike then contacted me wondering if I knew anything at all about the Sonic character. As it so happened, I had been picking up every issue since the first issue Archie published for my son Stephen, so I had a good idea what Paul might be looking for. Mike then came over to my home, we worked out a few ideas in my basement studio and submitted our initial story synopsis on October 6, 1993. We were not provided any guidance as to what Archie &/or SEGA were looking for.

After our initial plots were approved by both Archie & SEGA, Mike & I were asked to develop them as full scripts in page/panel layout format. I would produce the layouts as Mike and I developed the story verbally at the same time. By February 1994, Scott Fulop was brought on board as SONIC editor, replacing Paul & Victor. One of my 1st requests to Scott was to take the stories more in a sci-fi adventure direction in the manner of SatAM. Both Mike & I preferred that tone over the more humor-oriented AoSTH.

It was at this time SONIC 3 was released. Mike & I were asked to adapt a segment of the game to introduce Knuckles into the comic series. I don’t remember either Archie or SEGA supplying us with a copy of the game, so I more than likely went out and bought a copy.

After studying the 1st few levels, Mike & submitted our script, which Dave Manak illustrated. It was slated for issue 13 and was about to go on the presses when SEGA called to demand the story dropped from the issue. Scott told the SEGA Licensing Rep he would drop the story only if SEGA would eat the cost of production for an entirely new issue as well as absorb all printer penalties & fees for pulling an issue ready to go on the presses.

SEGA would back down from that confrontation, and I believe Knuckles’s subsequent appearances were due more to Scott Fulop seeing how well sales were with Knuckles as part of the mix than any encouragement from SEGA to bring him back.

From our vantage point, both Mike & I felt the Sonic gig could go away any day, even after we spent time at the Archie Booth during the 1994 San Diego Comic-Con, signing copies of issue 11 for whoever stopped by. (If anyone reading this sees they have a copy of issue 11 from that convention, hang onto it as that is indeed a rare copy. It’s the ONLY time Mike & I ever did a signing together in public.)

What was notable for us during the convention was spending time with the SEGA, DiC & ABC-TV reps talking about the possibility of Mike & I working up some scripts for the SatAM series. We were asked to come up with an outline for an episode, but it never went anywhere as ABC would pull the plug on the show shortly after the convention.

After the convention, we not only kept being asked to submit more scripts for the comic series, we were asked to develop something specific for the character of Princess Sally that would lead into the 1st 48-page SONIC Special. On top of that, another publisher reached out to Mike & I to develop a WHERE’S WALDO-style book featuring SONIC THE HEDGEHOG.

It was about this time Archie received sales figures from the 1st issue Mike & I worked on, issue 11, which featured every story written by us.

We were outselling WOLVERINE, SPIDER-MAN, SUPERMAN & BATMAN, among every Marvel & DC title on the market. Only X-MEN and X-MEN 2099 outsold us. This would be the only time we ever saw any sales figures as I’m sure someone realized we might ask for a raise in pay if we saw sales climbing. The other thing to keep in mind was the SONIC series derived the majority of its sales through newsstands, stores like KMart and subscriptions. If the company depended solely on direct market sales, especially at that time, there would be nothing to talk about now as the book wouldn’t have survived past 1993. (The sales of the current IDW series can’t even begin to compare to the sales Archie enjoyed for a variety of reasons.)

But as well as Mike & I seemed to be doing, there was just one problem.

Pictured above is an early memo Mike & I faxed to both Archie & SEGA, basically pointing out the lack of reference from either party. We had been supplied the SatAM scripts BLAST FROM THE PAST parts 1 & 2, but this would be the only time we would receive such material directly from either. As for visual reference, I myself personally wouldn’t see any until sometime after the SatAM series had been cancelled but just in time for me to utilize the material in SONIC SUPER SPECIAL 2 BRAVE NEW WORLD, published in 1997.

SEGA was even worse in supplying any info when it came time to adapt their latest video games as part of the series narrative.

During the later part of 1994, Mike & I would be asked to develop a PRINCESS SALLY mini-series, and that’s when the situation reached new levels of absurdity. For one thing, we couldn’t use Sonic and/or Tails. Nor were we told anything specific as to what they were looking for.

“Just come up with something.”

Our initial premise featured Sally discovering her roboticized mother, Queen Alicia, ruled over an underground kingdom of similarly roboticized subjects, but SEGA found it a bit too dark for their taste. So for our 2nd effort, we had Sally and Bunnie take a Thelma & Louise style roadtrip across Mobius in search of something to defeat Robotnik once and for all, but that got rejected as well. Finally, out of desperation, Mike & I came up with Sally leading a group of young new Freedom Fighters against Robotnik, adding a new love interest in the form of one Geoffrey St John. For whatever reason, SEGA approved this idea and told us to run with it.

I initially supplied the uncredited/ unpaid for cover layouts for the 3-issue mini-series, but someone above my pay grade – never learned who – decided to go in a different direction. (The cover layouts for these issues would eventually be repurposed by me for the covers of issues 7 thru 9 of KNUCKLES THE ECHIDNA.) This was probably because Archie kept pushing back the release of the mini-series. as they never wanted to do it in the first place, but SEGA pushed for it. What SEGA probably never told Archie was that they were entertaining releasing a PRINCESS SALLY video game, which they were promoting at the 1995 Toyfare in New York City. I myself was surprised to see the SEGA display as a result of getting free passes to the event.

(For the record, Mike K & I worked out the scenarios and dialogue/captions for the covers to issues 16 thru 19, 21 & 22 & 24, while I worked up cover designs for issues 27, 36, and 47 thru 50. )

At this point, when I refer to SEGA, I really mean SEGA Licensing Rep Bob Harris, as he was the only person whose comments we saw. Bob’s comments would drive Mike absolutely nuts, as he always felt Bob would take our best lines and either dumb them down or make them less funny. I was never bothered by Bob because none of his suggestions resulted in me redrawing any of my page layouts.

At this point, Mike wanted to cut back on his involvement with the writing, which resulted in me writing the story for SONIC issue 22 solo for the first time. Mike would gradually reduce his contributions over the next several months. Our collaboration on the SONIC’S FRIENDLY NEMESIS KNUCKLES mini-series would be our last, even though a Tails story would see print just as the mini-series was ending. In reality, that story had been submitted a year earlier and kept getting pushed back for various reasons. By the time Mike left, so had Bob Harris at SEGA, and I was free to submit whatever I pleased in terms of story and series direction.

The examples I can point to that best demonstrate the freedom I enjoyed are the SONIC LIVE! SPECIAL, the ENDGAME saga, the BRAVE NEW WORLD special and the KNUCKLES series.

SEGA Licensing Rep Bob Harris was totally against me doing the SONIC LIVE! Special as he objected to the concept of me using my son as a character in the story. He was so adamant against the story that even when offered to have his son or daughter (if he even had any) featured in the story, he still wouldn’t give his approval. Once he was gone, I resubmitted the story and went full speed ahead. I created the airbrushed illustration of Sonic for the cover as well as took the photos of my son Steve and niece Jessica that were used on the cover as well as inside the story.

Editor Justin Gabrie took some flak from publisher Michael Silberkleit once he saw the additional costs incurred as a result of incorporating full color photos into the process, but by then the book was on the presses and I achieved what I set out to do.

My work might not have been in every issue, but I was constantly busy. I was writing scripts in page/panel format and would go on to pencil and/or ink story pages in-between writing the stories. There was never a break unless I was able to get ahead of schedule so I could attend a convention or a family function.

Around the time I was working on the stories planned for SONIC issue 36 and SONIC’S FRIENDLY NEMESIS KNUCKLES 1st issue, I received a call from editor Scott Fulop notifying me that Archie didn’t expect SONIC to continue much longer now that the SatAM series had been officially cancelled and aired its final episode. Upon hearing the news, I made a suggestion to Scott about ending the series on a 4-issue arc featuring Sonic in his final battle with Robotnik. I called it ENDGAME and Scott agreed that might be a great way to end the series. The only thing he couldn’t promise was issue 50 being the final issue. He said he would let me know how events were playing out on his end before we pulled the trigger on the story.

Scott ended up leaving a couple of months later due to a disagreement with Co-publisher Richard Goldwater. Assistant Editor Justin Gabrie then took over as Scott’s replacement and he was onboard with the ENDGAME story plans as well.

The two events that affected the final execution of ENDGAME had nothing to do with SEGA at all. The first was that much to everyone’s surprise, sales on the SONIC series was trending upward. This almost never happens when the impetus for a licensed book – a film, TV series, book, toy or video game – is no longer driving sales. Yet here gravity was being defied, and Justin began suggesting we needed a plan for beyond issue 50 and scheduled a meeting at the Archie offices. I was already planning to be in NYC around that time so I could easily accommodate attending in my schedule.

The second event was Marvel filing for bankruptcy, which resulted in a lot of freelancers losing work. Justin had worked for Marvel prior to coming to work for Archie, so he knew a lot of the people affected, including Karl Bollers and Mike Gallagher. Mike had been writing GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY while Karl was working on whatever he could. (I wasn’t following either at the time as I really wasn’t into Marvel titles at this time.)

As we were gearing up for SONIC’s 50th issue, I happened to be in town when Justin called a meeting that included me, Scott Fulop, Karl Bollers & Justin. In all honesty, I don’t recall Mike Gallagher at the meeting or why he wasn’t there, but Justin had spoken with me prior to the meeting about bringing in Scott, Karl and Mike to assist with the ENDGAME scripting assignments.

ENDGAME had been my concept and I had already submitted a 4-issue outline for the story, but Justin had other plans. A regular KNUCKLES series was about to be green-lit as well as a SONIC SUPER SPECIAL series. Justin gave me a choice: I could be the regular writer on SONIC or KNUCKLES, but not both. Whatever book I didn’t take, the script assignments were to be divided up between Karl and Mike Gallagher, with Scott thrown an assignment here and there. As Justin saw it, I would be kept busy no matter what, but there were an awful lot of his friends that were now out of work, and he wanted to do what he could to help out.

I decided to continue running with KNUCKLES. At that point, I had written and illustrated every Knuckles solo-story thus far, and saw this as my opportunity to really establish myself with other publishers. If I was seen as the main driver for the book’s success, I thought it could open up opportunities elsewhere.

After giving Justin my decision, at the meeting it was decided I would write ENGAME Part 1 solo, Scott would handle the dialogue from my plot for Part 2, Mike Gallagher would dialogue from my plot for Part 3, with the 3 of us plus Karl dividing up the dialogue duties from my plot for Part 4. I would also get to pencil a couple of pages as well as ink a few as well.

Once that was decided, Justin threw me a bone and accepted my BRAVE NEW WORLD proposal for the 2nd issue of SONIC SUPER SPECIAL. It was agreed I would write and illustrate the full 40-page story. I also provided the cover layout for that issue, which regular cover penciller Patrick Spaziante followed from my layout. I then took his illustration and produced an airbrush painting from it.

As we were working about 9 to 12 months ahead of schedule, this would be about late summer 1996. My better half Bernie and I had taken our kids to their first San Diego Comic-Con, which would be the start of several conventions we wound up attending after.

One of the most surprising aspects when attending conventions during this time was learning how few if any retailers had any issues of SONIC available for purchase. They would end up buying my copies, getting me to sign them, then marking them up in price for their customers to buy. Keep in mind this was before Ebay existed, so to say we felt a bit taken advantage of is putting it mildly.

Bernie wanted us to raise our prices, but I wanted some justification for doing so. After the next convention we had attended, I contacted SEGA and asked if they had anything we could hand out to promote Sonic with. As it turned out, we were the only ones at the time on the convention circuit promoting Sonic, so SEGA happily supplied us with a number of Sonic pins (L in the pic above) which we handed out with every $5 purchase. We figured a signed comic plus the pin would prove popular at that price, and we were proven right. It also discouraged the dealers from buying us out, thus allowing the fans to benefit.

When SEGA ran out of the Sonic pins, they then sent the Sonic 3 pins (R in the pic above) in similar quantity which we would continue to hand out at convention appearances. When those ran out, we were sent a batch of SEGA Saturn pins, which were still appreciated by the fans.

By the time 1997 rolled around, ENDGAME was well into production, I had turned in the script to BRAVE NEW WORLD and was about to begin illustrating it while turning in the cover layouts to KNUCKLES THE DARK LEGION issues 1 thru 3 as well as the script for the first issue.

It had been decided the KNUCKLES series would be a series of 3-issue mini-series releasing each issue on a monthly basis. The fourth month would see the release of an issue of SONIC SUPER SPECIAL followed by another KNUCKLES mini-series and so on. Once KNUCKLES THE DARK LEGION concluded, I was planning the next mini-series to be titled KNUCKLES THE LOST CITY, with the intent of broadening the backstory of Knuckles I had been laying the groundwork for.

It was about this time I was to learn I was more important to the SONIC series than I had thought up to this point.

End of Part One of Sonic The Hedgehog’s History From My Perspective. If I haven’t bored everyone by this point, I’ll do a follow-up.